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NCAA Soccer: Wake Forest > Everyone

If you listen closely (or you’re so drunk you can no longer feel your palms), it does sound kind of like Freddy Mercury’s singing “Deeeeeacs are the champions, my friends!”. Or at least it did to me for a couple of hours yesterday after watching Wake Forest’s insanely hot men’s soccer team win their first national title with a 2-1 victory over Ohio State.

Junior Marcus Tracy and sophomore Zach Schilawski each scored for the Deacs in the second half, with Schilawski netting both the game winner and a 40 point Scrabble score.

Jump with me, readers, for more about the game, more Wake Forest trivia sure to impress…um…other Wake Forest graduates, and for some delicious pics of men who aren’t allowed to use their hands.

With seven minutes to play, senior Julian Valentin took a foot to the face and had to leave the game to get 30 stitches. I haven’t seen someone get booted in the head like that since Santa kicked Ralphie down the slide.

Valentin and fellow seniors Patrick Phelan (below) and goalkeeper Brian Edwards all played (and won) their very first college game against Ohio State…and yesterday their careers came full circle, giving them all a nice set of Buckeye bookends. For the record, the Deacs have never lost to the Buckeyes. Sorry, Ohio State…sometimes you’re Amy Winehouse, sometimes you’re the drugs.

Edwards, Phelan, and Valentin have all been invited to the MLS player combine, which will be held January 11-15, 2008. I have no snarky follow-up comments…making fun of Major League Soccer is like making fun of the ADHD kid who has to wear a helmet and spend recess tethered to the jungle gym–everyone knows it’s there, you just try to ignore it.

Forward Marcus Tracy, who scored the tying goal, was named the Most Outstanding Offensive Player of the tournament.

Goalkeeper Brian Edwards (seen clutching the trophy yet leaving the Papa John’s unguarded) was the Most Outstanding Defensive Player; he had four saves against Ohio State.

I read just about every article about Wake’s win available online, and I didn’t appreciate USA Today classifying Wake under “Other Colleges”. I love that my alma mater was slighted by a newspaper with fewer words and more puzzles than the side of a Happy Meal box.

Fun Wake Forest Fact: While this was the university’s first national soccer title, they have three titles in field hockey (’02, ’03, ’04), three in men’s golf (’74, ’75, ’86), and one in baseball (1955). Wake has also won “Prettiest Smile” and “Abercrombiest”.

Did you make sure that you did all of the Scrabble scores in the point systems that the last name would accrue in the language of origin? Because I have a friend who once voted for the NHL All-Star teams that way.